1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a strainer for use with a drum, in particular to an adjustable strainer for use with a snare drum.
2. Description of the Related Art
Snare drums typically include a plurality of wires, or snares, which contact a bottom drumhead of the snare drum so that the snares are vibrated by the vibration of the bottom drumhead when the snare drum is played. A strainer is typically used to tension the snares in order to change the tone produced by the drum by changing the position of the snares so that they are either in contact or not in contact with the drumhead.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,557,053 and 6,093,877 to Nickel are examples of conventional strainers for snares of a snare drum. These strainers use a lever directly connected to a piston, wherein the lever pivots about an axis generally perpendicular to the piston, so that when the lever is pivoted from one position to another, the piston drops and the tension in the snares is released so that the snares are no longer in contact with the drumhead. The pivoting lever of strainers such as these can only be operated so that the snares are either in contact with the drumhead (snares-on mode), or not in contact with the drumhead (snares-off mode), and are not adjustable to different tensions in between. Further, the strainer tends to be tensioned or released quickly, so that the snares make an unwanted “throw-off” noise against the drumhead, which is very undesirable, particularly for orchestral musicians. Also, the housings of Nickel's strainers are made from plastic, and have been known to break after only a few months of repeated use in a percussion environment.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,787,286 to Okumura, U.S. Pat. No. 5,559,296 to Yamashita, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,008,445 to Chen also disclose strainers for snare drums wherein a lever pivots about an axis generally perpendicular to a piston, similar to Nickel. Further, none of these disclose a continuously adjustable strainer that prevents the unwanted throw-off noise described above.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,684,257 to Yanagisawa discloses a strainer having a lever that pivots about an axis generally perpendicular to a slider assembly and that can be adjusted to various discrete positions between the snares-on and the snares-off modes. However, this strainer does not teach a strainer that is continuously adjustable. Further, this strainer can still create the undesirable throw-off noise described above, particularly if it is adjusted quickly.
What is needed is a strainer that avoids the problems described above.